CBO report supports cost savings nature of the Preserve Access to Affordable Generic Drugs Act
Just as the Pfizer/Ranbaxy agreement that delayed the introduction of generic Lipitor winds to a close, the Preserve Access to Affordable Generic Drugs Act (S.27) has been referred out of committee. The bill is specifically designed to prohibit brand name drug companies from compensating generic drug companies to delay the entry of a generic drug [...]
Stop Online Piracy Act introduced in the House
The recently introduced Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is the House version of a bill introduced earlier in the Senate, known then as the Protect IP Act. The legislation would give law enforcement more tools to prevent websites from promoting pirated software, music, movies, TV shows, etc. It has received continual support from the music [...]
Evergreen Solar bankruptcy IP sale may itself be bankrupt
At first glance, a patents-for-sale sign appeared to be hanging out of Bankruptcy Court as a result of the filing of Massachusetts company Evergreen Solar. Those patents include U.S. Patents Nos. 6,814,802, 7,022,180 and 7,507,291, the “Ribbon Patents,” which cover Evergreen’s PV (photovoltaic) manufacturing process known as String Ribbon technology. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has written a [...]
New patent law removes the teeth behind disclosure of “best mode”
The America Invents Act changes the bargain created in the nineteenth century when Congress granted inventors a limited monopoly on their invention in exchange for revealing to the world how it works in its “best mode.” According to Jake Holdreth and Joseph Hosteny, writing in Corporate Counsel, the compromise presented in AIA creates “confusion and [...]
Proposed legislation would create a federal civil cause of action for trade secrets misappropriation
A pair of amendments to the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011were proposed early this month by Senators Chris Coons (D-NJ) and Herb Kohl (D-WI). The bill would allow US businesses allegedly wronged by trade-secret theft to sue in federal court by streamlining existing state laws into a uniform national statute and would [...]
A case study: IP value fluctuates with the ability to protect it
Nothing illustrates how the value of IP thrives only when the IP rights owner has the willingness (stomach) and wherewithal (resources) to protect those rights more than a case study of a small, undercapitalized inventor, as told in the LA Times. Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on Facebookshare via RedditShare with StumblersTweet about itSubscribe to [...]
Get ready for patent reform
Late last night the Senate agreed to end the debate on patent reform, H.R. 1249. Vote on the bill will most certainly take place soon, as it is being promoted as a “jobs” bill, and the president has stated his intention to sign it. Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on Facebookshare via RedditShare with StumblersTweet [...]
Section 101 of the Patent Act may provide the answer to reining in software patents
Recall in Bilski, the U.S. Supreme Court basically held the “machine or transformation” test to be okay, but not exclusive. However, the court rejected the Bilski patent as unpatentable under Section 101 of the Patent Act. Now, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), has used Section 101 of the Patent Act to invalidate [...]
Is real patent reform now in our sights?
Patently O reminds us September should bring with it passage of the America Invents Act of 2011, the first patent reform in nearly sixty years. H.R. 1249: grants rights to the first-inventor-to-file (rather than first-to-invent) a patent application, to come into conformity with the rest of the world and to reduce strangling litigation over patent ownership; [...]
Preserving IP value should be fundamental to reform
Nilay Patel has written an editorial on patent policy worth saving. Mainly, he answers critics of the patent system, those who say “it is broken,” not by blindly defending what exists, but rather by explaining why it exists and how it can be better. Embedded in the piece is a rational discussion of patent “trolls,” [...]
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